


Training Weapons

by Chimaera-Writes (ChimaeraKitten)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Sparring, gratuitous use of my own headcanons, yes editing we do not die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 09:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17261513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChimaeraKitten/pseuds/Chimaera-Writes
Summary: Just some sparring fluff set just before the ember island players episode.





	Training Weapons

Zuko is looking for a good meditation spot, arms full of candles, when Sokka almost decapitates him.

“Hey, watch it!” He looks from where Sokka’s sword is embedded, still quivering, in the wall six inches from his head to Suki and Sokka, both looking the picture of guilty. Suki looks like she’s contemplating hiding her own blade behind her back.

“Sorry,” she says instead, “that was my fault.”

Sokka rubs the back of his neck, “We’ll be more careful.”

Having just come very close to losing his nose, Zuko is unimpressed by this.

“What are you doing practicing with live weapons anyway?” he demands.

If possible, both of them look more guilty. “We tried sticks,” Suki supplies, “but the balance was off.”

“You don’t have training weapons?”

Sokka shakes his head. “I had one practice sword but it got left behind at the air temple.”

“And I don’t have anything,” Suki says, “they took all my stuff before I even got to prison.”

Zuko briefly contemplates continuing on his way and leaving them to accidentally slice each other to ribbons, but that would probably be counterproductive to everything. “I think there might be some practice weapons in the attic. I’ll go get them.”

Sokka grins. “Thanks, jerkbender!”

Suki elbows him, and Zuko takes small pleasure in unceremoniously dumping his candles into Sokka’s arms on his way back into the house. He hears yelps behind him and the telltale sound of many small objects bouncing off the courtyard stones.

It doesn’t take long to find the practice weapons in the attic. Most of the stuff up there has already been cleared out, either from the bonfire or from Katara looking for anything useable. The weapons sit on a rack in the back corner, behind two crates and a stack of dusty scrolls. All of them are child-sized, but a few are useable. He takes those, and two fans that must have been his mother’s, though he doesn't ever remember her with them. They're not the bladed metal used by the Kyoshi Warriors, but they’re built of a heavy enough wood that Suki might like them anyway.

Zuko detours past his own room on the way back to the courtyard to collect his own swords, both live and practice. They might be useful.

When he emerges from the house, Sokka is running through what looks like a kata, while Suki observes.

“You’re shifting your weight to far forward.” She says as Zuko comes up behind them and Sokka drops out of his stance.

“Woah,” he says, eyes wide, “that’s a lot of stuff.”

Zuko shrugs. “I got interested in blades right before our last family trip here. My mom wanted to encourage me.”

He walks over to the stairs, Sokka and Suki trailing after him, so he can lay out the weapons. “I don’t think any of these match your weapon styles exactly, but they’re better than sticks.”

Suki picks up a wooden wakizashi and gives it a few practice slashes. “It’ll do.”

Sokka selects a jian to use. It’s shorter than his “space sword” and tapers more, but it’s the closest option among what Zuko has.

“Hey,” he says, before Zuko can go looking for his candles. “You’re pretty good with those dual swords.” Which is Sokka for ‘ _you beat me a bunch of times and I’ve come to grudgingly respect that_.’ “Think you could teach me some of that fancy footwork?”

Zuko blinks, “I’m not sure how much of it translates from dual broadswords to your style.”

Sokka shrugs, “Hey, if it doesn’t help me, it might help Suki. She dual wields her fans.”

Zuko doesn’t think that relates much either, but he gets his practice blades anyway, lamenting his lost meditation time.

“It’s all about being able to attack or defend with either blade at almost any time,” he begins, “versatility is key, because if you focus on one side too much, the other becomes dead weight. It’s also about flow. With dual swords, it means using them as two halves of the same weapon, shifting so fluidly from one to the other that it’s barely a shift at all. That means careful footwork.”

Half an hour later, the three of them lie on the cobbles panting. Zuko had been feeling pretty good about himself, winning all but one of his spars with Sokka, but then Suki had stepped in and dumped him on his behind three times in a row. He wants to pretend that he was just tired after fighting Sokka, but in his heart he knows she is nearly impossible to beat without the advantage of bending to keep her at a distance. At least she seems almost as tired as he is.

“You’re—” _Gasp_. “—really good,” he says.

“You too,” she says, “I didn’t think they taught princes to fight like that.”

“They don’t, usually.” He says when his breath finally starts to even out. “The royal tutors focus on bending only, because they think it’s nobler, or something. But it was something I liked that Azula wasn’t interested in, and I was actually better at it than bending. My uncle sent me knives and practice swords as gifts, and my mother arranged for Piandao to tutor me. My father didn’t care as long as I didn’t slack in my other studies. Later, my uncle found me tutors at fire nation ports, just so I wouldn’t get rusty.”

“How long have you been working with dual swords?” Sokka asks.

“Since right after my father became firelord. Piandao thought it would complement my firebending better than a single weapon.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Sokka says, “I don’t know any other benders that can fight with weapons too.”

“I know a few,” Zuko admits, thinking of the various people he’d clashed with in the Earth Kingdom.

“That’s still cool, though. I mean, I tried to teach my sister how to use the boomerang once and she gave up after about ten minutes to try to get chunks of ice to fly around.”

Zuko smiles. “My sister used to make fun of me for playing with knives, but it saved my life and my identity about a dozen times in the Earth Kingdom, so I guess she was wrong.”

“Your sister sucks.” Sokka says.

Suki laughs, then rolls over and gets to her feet. “C’mon, let’s go another round. It’s my turn to teach you.”

Sokka groans, but gets to his feet. “After...everything is over, I’m going back to Piandao, and then I’ll teach you guys something.”

“I’ll let you teach me how to throw a boomerang, if it makes you feel better.” Suki says, as Zuko gets up. “But first we’re going to do throws.”

An hour later, when Zuko finally gets his planned meditation, he realizes Sokka’s plans are some of the first he’s heard of a concrete after, of peacetime, of learning to fight just for the sake of learning, rather than for survival.

He likes the idea.

  


**Author's Note:**

> did it ever bug you guys that everyone in avatar practices with live weapons? Like, way to accidentally hurt someone. I know with bending there isn’t much of a better option, but seriously, don’t spar with a sharpened blade.
> 
> Happy new year!


End file.
